


Faith

by queer_serenity (orphan_account)



Series: mShepard [4]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Gen, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-16
Updated: 2013-04-16
Packaged: 2017-12-08 16:10:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/763362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/queer_serenity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shepard and Ashley manage to get to Kaidan in time, and leave together in one piece. Virmire au in which nobody dies. (ot3)</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>~He couldn’t even tell through the banging in his head and the ache around his neck, through the sore throat and the heavy bones where his limbs ended, and where Shepard’s and Ashley’s began~</p>
            </blockquote>





	Faith

Based off [this idea](http://fucknooovirmire.tumblr.com/post/47399237190/you-know-i-think-my-url-is-good-and-appropriate), from the amazing [ **fucknooovirmire**](http://fucknooovirmire.tumblr.com/)!

* * *

 

Virmire.  
  
A beautiful place for vacation. Clear blue skies, clear pristine waters and smooth, white sand. Clear everything.  
  
None of them mattered to Kaidan at the moment, who was looking straight into the crazy, blue orbed eyes of Saren as he was being choked to death. The strong talons around his neck slowly squeezing the life out of him through the shimmer of his barrier, his vision already starting to dim around the edges as his pistol lay in waters away from him. His lungs burned and struggled to take a full breath, body convulsing from lack of oxygen as his feet kicked in mid-air, trying to dislodge himself from the iron grip.  
  
With the reserves of his strength, Kaidan pulled out a biotic throw over the steady pounding in his head, drawing a wild snarl from Saren as he flew back. Shaking to clear his head and dropping into the water with barely enough time to react, the Sentinel ignored his tender ribs and made a dive for his pistol, evading the biotic attack from Saren, who was up on his toes within seconds.  
  
He didn’t however, evade the shot from Saren’s weapon to his side, easily piercing through his weakened barrier and light armour.  _Shit._  His mind whirled with his body, tripping over and falling against the bomb, muscles aching beneath all the protection, vision swimming in the intense sunlight as the turian lined up for another shot.  
  
Virmire.  
  
A beautiful place to die too.  
  
The shot never came, because all of a sudden, Shepard and Ashley were there, fingers on the triggers of their weapons, peppering bullets over the haze settled in Kaidan’s mind. The panic which consumed him mere moments ago vanished at the sight of his friends emerging into view. The shards of metal twisted in Saren’s mouth, face plates set in annoyance as he dodged and moved with grace, hopping onto his hovercraft and retreating just as loud alarms started blaring.  
  
The shrill noises were like knifes in his brain, piercing through Kaidan’s askew helmet and making it difficult to gather his thoughts. Automatically he groaned and brought his hands to clutch his head, which didn’t help at all. His entire body hurt, his side stinging and throat so damaged it was painful to even swallow. Kaidan slouched on the ground and tried to focus on his two friends who were running towards him now, features contorted into barely contained worry.  
  
‘’Dammit, LT! I leave you alone for five minutes and you get in trouble.’’  
  
Ashley attempted for a light teasing tone, but Kaidan knew her well enough that he nonetheless caught the nervousness in her voice as she swooped down to grab his discarded pistol, fingers ghosting over his body while Shepard’s omni-tool flashed over him as he spoke lowly over his comms to the Normandy.  
  
‘’He gonna be okay, Skipper?’’  
  
‘’Can’t have it any other way, Chief.’’ Shepard answered with his Commander voice, injecting calm into the tense situation.  
  
Their words seemed distant and jumbled, and Kaidan found it filtered through to him at an agonisingly dull pace, his head up in the clouds, belatedly deciding that he in fact knew the English language. Shepard’s brilliant blue eyes met his for a brief moment before he moved away, prodding his armour, as Ashley shifted to lay an arm protectively around their Sentinel, the light clatter of their bodies drowned out by the splashing.  
  
Looking down at his own body, he saw his scorched armour, harsh black mixing with the grey cracked and split open in various places, leaking red into waters. Kaidan coughed and winced, vocal cords busted up as he tried to speak and give Ashley a split lip grin, exposing teeth stained with his own blood.  
  
Shepard had begun to tend to his injured torso, quickly applying basic medication to the most severe wounds to stop the bleeding while Ashley unclasped Kaidan’s helmet, gently pulling it off while supporting his neck, hand sweeping his black hair off his forehead. She took care to avoid touching olive skin flushed with cuts and welts. He could see Ashley staring at the marks on his neck, fingers faintly brushing the angry streaks as she attempted to mask her fury at whatever she saw. Kaidan was wheezing, his breaths sounding rough to his own ears and Ashley gazed down at him, brows drawn tight as her palm grazed his cheek.  
  
‘’We got you, LT... you’re gonna be alright.’’ She whispered in his ear, wet lips on just the shell, moist breath hot against sensitive skin as the Chief held him, and Kaidan believed her.  
  
The pain seeping through to his bones lessened slightly and Kaidan nodded, trying not to gulp as he let his head roll back, working on getting his heart rate down as his team mates carefully moved beside him, hauling him up. Kaidan wasn’t worried though, not anymore, now that the two of them were here, suspending him between sets of strong shoulders. He wanted to tell them that, but only managed to let out a small pitiful moan. The Sentinel could see them exchange glances over his head, gripping him tighter when his knees buckled and could no longer support his own weight. His entire body felt bruised and battered, his arms quickly becoming numb as tendons stretched across shoulder plates.  
  
Hobbling away from the bomb, Kaidan felt himself drifting off, fighting to remain conscious, his feet slicing through the water as he was practically carried, eyes squinting to avoid the glare of the bright Virmire sun. Hanging his head, he saw Shepard’s hand over his heart, and the blood from his own armour smearing the white of Ashley’s, running into the clasps, mixing with the stains and dirt as they moved. Kaidan felt disoriented, and he knew he was being uncoordinated in his movements. He couldn’t even tell through the banging in his head and the ache around his neck, through the sore throat and the heavy bones where his limbs ended, and where Shepard’s and Ashley’s began.  
  
There was a metaphor for their relationship in there somewhere. They fitted as one so well, bodies pressed, personalities and abilities complementing each other, one perfectly formed puzzle. Kaidan felt unbreakable surrounded by their gravity, his love for them suddenly overwhelming him as his emotions did a flip flop.  _Fuck, Alenko, don’t cry now_. He could blame it on his fragile state of mind because of his injuries, although they’ll never let him live it down. But he couldn’t help it, it was like a cascading feeling tearing through his body, shaky breathing on top of sniffs through a broken, clogged nose.  
  
The rush of the Normandy’s engines caused him to shut his eyes and wince once more. One single tear managed to escape his closed lid, and someone was making shushing noises and wiped it away. It was a real chore to avoid the blackness washing over him, but this time, Kaidan no longer fought it. Vaguely, he could make out Shepard’s deep voice mumbling to him, nose inhaling the sweat on his temple through his curly hair, letting him know he was safe, and Ashley making a comment about how he needed to put on some muscle so he could wear heavier armour. Kaidan slurred a mocking ‘’Yessir’’, and let himself finally get pulled into the darkness, confident in the knowledge that hanging between the two of them, he was as safe as he could be and that he wouldn’t fall, his faith in their bond as sure as their simultaneous heartbeats. Unshakable and grounding him through whatever storms they may have to pass through together in future.  
  
 _End._

**Author's Note:**

> Virmire sucks and I've had a lot of ot3 feels recently. No, game, I refuse to choose between my two favourite squaddies. This is my first ot3 fic, I hope it turned out okay!


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